The usefulness of mobile wireless communication devices, such as smart phones and cellular phones, are dependent on the battery life of the mobile devices. One of the main consumers of power for mobile devices relates to the wireless network transceiver and controller, and the ability of the wireless network transceiver and controller to establish and maintain the wireless network connection. In situations where the mobile device is located in a weak wireless network connection environment, the mobile device may continuously try to reacquire a new or different wireless network connection. This activity produces an increased burden on the battery of the mobile device due to the wireless network transceiver and controller continuously communicating with the wireless network, which can reduce the battery life of the mobile device. Conventionally, the user of the mobile device would need to determine that the mobile device is in a poor signal strength location and actively change one or more settings on the mobile device to turn off or disable the wireless connections on the mobile device. What is needed is an improved mechanism to reduce the burden on the battery of the mobile device when the mobile device is in a wireless network connection environment that has a reduced or less than optimal strength of the wireless signal.